A Dark Place in the Center
A Collection of Poems
by
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MAN DOWN
Man down beside the road:
Asleep? Or drunk? Or sick? Or dead?
Or contemplating something on the roadside?
Or giving up and lying there?
The police know how to say it:
“We have a man down in the street.”
Asleep? Or drunk? Or sick? Or dead?
Or beaten up? Or simply beaten?
Down in the street, down in the road,
Down from insanity? Down from dread?
Down from the road? Or load? Or goad?
Down from lack of love or bread?
Alone, or with a woman,
Alive or beast or human:
Four things make man to couch his head:
He’s asleep or drunk or sick or dead.
ALL GENIUS IS INSTINCTIVE AT THE TOMB
The first birds of morning sang
Their dour notes of deadly day.
He went into the room with ruthless placidity,
Saying, in an offhand way, “It is time.”
Or for loving not long nor wisely nor well,
But in desperation and fear of hell,
He clutched vague airs of thought,
Saying, to converge his fears, “It is here.”
Although he new this catching-up thing
Bespoke merit itself what lacked in industry,
He dwelt at that old eternal moment of creation,
Saying, to reconcile all reconcilable, “It is finished.”
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About the Book
On the subject of alcoholism, the language and publications of recovery literature run the gamut from self-help guides to inspiring stories. Author David Prinz Hufford—himself a recovered alcoholic who has been sober now for thirty years—adds his own voice to this topic in the form of this new collection of verse.
His poetry spans the full range of alcoholism, from initiation at parties to full-blown chronic alcoholism to the change that comes only from hitting bottom. His words speak from experience, written by an insider who has lived the nightmare and found his way out to clear-headed wakefulness. Exploring a wide range of emotion and history, these verses were difficult to write; some are just as difficult to read, steeped in agony and despair.
Even so, Hufford’s message is not one of condemnation but instead of hope. Once a prisoner of alcoholism, he is now set free. He shares his painful road to inspire the lost ones—the people of Hufford’s past, who feel hopelessly afraid and shackled to a drug that will not let go.
About the Author
David Prinz Hufford has been writing poems for nearly seventy years. He has been in recovery for more than thirty years, which contributes to the diversity and range of his poetry. After teaching in two states and two foreign countries, he is now retired and living in Nebraska.